Physical Wesmen wear Bobcats down to complete sweep

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This article was published 04/12/2022 (654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eli Ampofo went down clutching his left ankle, adding injury to the insult of a suddenly lopsided scoreline.

The Brandon University Bobcats guard limped off the court alone and slouched against the Healthy Living Centre wall beside the score table. A few minutes later, Sultan Bhatti took his place, digesting an 88-65 loss to the Winnipeg Wesmen (6-2) on Saturday to go into the Christmas break at 7-3 and fourth place in the Canada West men’s basketball standings.

The Bobcats looked stunned and exhausted after five straight weekend doubleheaders. They’re one of six teams to have no first-semester bye.

It showed in their shooting. Brandon shot less than 36 per cent from the field and 22 per cent from three and was held under 83 points for the first time in the regular season.

“We can’t score 100 every game,” said Bobcats guard Jahmaal Gardner, who did his part with 22 points on 50 per cent shooting.

“We’re obviously one of the best scoring teams in the country but you’re not going to have 100 every night. We just got to come in here after the break and just work on it.

“We wanted to play better defence, definitely. We lacked a bit of enthusiasm but that comes with the game. Can’t win ’em all. You win some, you lose some. They made shots, they rebounded the ball well, they came in here and played well.”

The glaring differences came in points off turnovers and second-chance points, which Winnipeg won 25-4 and 17-10, respectively. The Wesmen handed it to the Bobcats just 13 times and shot 50 per cent from the field.

“We like to play fast but it’s hard for us to play fast when we don’t get stops, right?” said Bobcats forward Anthony Tsegakele. “We’re just taking the ball out so we can’t really get up and down. The ball didn’t move as well today and that was partially my fault.

“We’re a team that traps, that tries to force turnovers, that tries to play fast but when we can’t do those things, building off of our defence, it’s really hard.”

The Bobcats got to the rim with ease early, pulling ahead 10-4 in the first three minutes. Then BU couldn’t buy a bucket for the next seven while Winnipeg kept the game at a snail’s pace and established a 20-14 lead one sluggish possession at a time.

The teams traded runs in the first six minutes of the second quarter. First, Jack McDonald and Bhatti pushed BU on an 8-0 stretch, then the Wesmen answered with six straight before the Bobcats dropped a quick five to come within one.

Gardner dropped back-to-back triples in the last two minutes, and then Shawn Maranan hit a breakaway layup at the buzzer to put the Wesmen up 40-36 at halftime. Of the 76 points scored, only 17 were from outside the paint and free-throw line.

Every point felt hard to come by and every rebound was like a pack of athletic, overeager bridesmaids fighting for a bouquet toss.

“Other than the second (Saskatchewan) game, this is the most physical it’s been on the glass,” said Tsegakele, who had 16 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

“It’s fun, these are the games I like to play, the scrappy ones, but I gotta be better myself and as a whole, we gotta be better on that front.”

The forwards took control for both teams in the third as Donald Stewart and Tsegakele traded blows. Gardner hit a three to give BU its first lead at 45-43 midway through the quarter.

A Gardner steal-and-score and Tsegakele three-point play brought BU ahead but a few Stewart buckets put Winnipeg up 59-58 after three.

The Wesmen went up a few scores early in the fourth and it stayed tight until Emmanuel Thomas hit Winnipeg’s third three of the game, then an and-one to go up 73-64 with 4:34 left.

Maranan added a four-point play as Khari Ojeda-Harvey fouled out to ice it as Winnipeg enjoyed an 18-1 run in the final five minutes.

“We came out flat and in the Sask game we were able to turn it up but couldn’t find the energy today,” Tsegakele said of last week’s 19-point comeback win. “Maybe you want to blame it on a couple of guys being banged up and a couple of guys playing through injuries but at the end of the day they probably have injuries too.”

The Bobcats head to the Wesmen Classic on Dec. 28-30, then resume the regular season on Jan. 6-7 at home against UBC (4-4).

All five second-semester opponents are sitting at .500 or better.

“It’s good we got punched in the mouth like this,” Tsegakele said. “… It’s going to help us in the long run.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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